Minecraft: Heroes of the Village

Minecraft: Heroes of the Village is a board game published by Mojang Studios and Ravensburger.^[1] In the game, players work together to defend a village from an illager raid by constructing buildings in the village. Players are also able to collect blocks and fight mobs.

Equipment[]

A standard set of Minecraft: Heroes of the Village includes:^[2]

Blocks[]

A set of twenty-five wooden blocks which comprise the following materials:

• Six wood
• Six sand
• Six stone
• Three redstone
• Four darkness

Tiles[]

A set of thirty-two tiles which consist of:

• Eighteen world tiles
• Six player tiles
• Six pet tiles
• One starting tile
• One "Illagers Path" tile

Mob tokens[]

A set of twelve mob tokens which are used when fighting a mob.

Dice[]

Two dice (a black "Fight" die and a white "Illagers" die).

Cards[]

Sixteen cards, which consist of:

• Four inventory cards (one matching for each player)
• Six player character cards
• Six special ability cards

Misc.[]

• Four color bases (one for each player)
• Nine building cards
• Four bases (one for each building built and one "Illagers" base)
• One pouch

Setup[]

Choosing player piece and pet[]

Players are free to choose between six player tiles and six pet tiles, and then insert their chosen player and pet tile into a color base (blue, red, yellow, or green). The inventory card must match the color of the color base (see this section for more info about pets).

Set Up the World[]

Once the starting tile is set up, the four blocks pictured on the back of the starting tile are to be placed into the pouch (one each of wood, sand, stone, and darkness). Then, all player pieces are placed on the center of the tile, followed by attaching the "Illagers Path" tile to the top of the starting tile.

Next, the "Illagers" piece is placed on space nine of the "Illagers Path", however it may be placed on space eleven to make gameplay easier. Then, the world tiles are shuffled and divided into three stacks of six, with the block side up, and set next to the starting tile. Eighteen blocks are then placed next to the starting tile, with three "Darkness" blocks left over; those are placed on spaces 5, 6, and 7 of the "Illagers Path" tile.

Next, three building cards are selected among the nine that are available; three each correspond to how difficult they are to build. The remaining building cards are then returned to the game box. Then, the twelve mob tokens are shuffled and placed face down next to the starting tile. Finally, the "Fight" die is placed next to the stack of mob tokens, followed by handing the "Illager" die to the starting player.

Rules[]

Official rules[]

The player who recently tamed an animal in Minecraft is the starting player. Otherwise, the youngest player is the starting player.

During a turn, the player must perform two actions, and are allowed to perform the same action twice. Once the actions have been performed, play proceeds to the left of the starting player. Moving a player piece does not count as an action, and players are allowed to freely move their respective player piece before, after, or in-between their two actions. However, the player has to move their player piece to a world tile if they wish to perform an action.

Actions[]

Exploring the World[]

Players are able to move to whatever space they wish to explore, and are allowed to add a world tile to any free side of the starting tile or existing world tiles. To add a world tile, the player takes it from the top of one of the three stacks and places the one to three blocks depicted on the back of the tile into the pouch. The world tile is then turned face-up and placed adjacent to the space that they currently occupy.

If blocks are no longer available or needed when drawing a world tile, the player may either lay out the world tile and place any available blocks they have for the tile into the pouch, or, if all three stacks show tiles with blocks no longer available or needed, the player may add as many world tiles as possible until a world tile on top of one of the three stacks shows blocks that are needed to add it to the playing field; the latter option does not count as an action.

Collecting blocks[]

Players are able to collect blocks from world tiles that have a collecting symbol (a pickaxe () and the respective block), and are able to gather wood from forests, sand from deserts, and stone from caves. The player must move their piece to a world tile with a pickaxe symbol in order to collect the respective block. The player then draws three blocks from the pouch without looking, and the action continues as follows:

If there are less than three blocks in the pouch, then all blocks are drawn and used accordingly.

The player inventory consists of three slots for one wood, sand, stone, or darkness block, and one slot for redstone. Players may only add blocks to their inventory if they have free slots.

At any time, players may peek in the pouch to check which blocks are currently inside, however the pouch will need to be shuffled afterward.

Fighting mobs[]

A player must fight a mob to remove it from blocking a collecting location. To do this, the player must occupy the same space as the mob token and rolls the "Fight" die to determine as to whether the mob can be defeated or not. Each mob has a fight value printed on its token ranging from four to six (e.g. sliverfish are easy and can be defeated if "4" or higher is rolled, enderman are hard and can be defeated if "6" is rolled, etc.). A player may roll the "Fight" die three times to get the desired result, unless the mob is already defeated.

If the mob is defeated, the mob token is removed from the world tile and the player is allowed to draw three blocks from the pouch, only selecting one to add to their inventory if they have available slots. If the player draws a darkness block, they are allowed to keep it in an available inventory slot.

While the player is fighting a mob, rolling the "Fight" die may show one of two symbols:

• Arrow Symbol: the "Illagers" piece is moved one space away from the village
• Illager Symbol: the "Illagers" piece is moved one space toward the village

Building[]

In order to build a building, the player goes back to the village and turns in their collected blocks. The blocks needed to construct a building are printed on the respective building tile. Players work together on buildings and they do not need to be completed in any order. A darkness block may be used as a substitute for any block, and players are also allowed to remove blocks from their inventories if they are no longer needed for building. Once the building is finished, it is inserted into a base and placed in the village. Blocks used to construct the building stay where they are. In addition, for each building completed, the "Illagers" piece is moved one space away from the village.

End of the turn[]

At the end of the player's turn, they must roll the "Illagers" die, showing one of two symbols:

• Illager Symbol: the "Illagers" piece is moved one space toward the village
• Blank: the "Illagers" piece stays where it is

If the "Illagers" piece lands on spaces 7, 6, or 5 of the "Illagers Path", the darkness block on that space is put into the pouch, meaning that the chance of encountering a mob increases.

Pets[]

There are six pets, each with their own special abilities:

• Wolf: When a player rolls the "Fight" die while fighting a mob, they add +1 to the result of the roll (e.g. if a player fights an enderman and rolls "5", it automatically becomes a "6", defeating it).
• Cat: When a player is collecting blocks, they are protected from the effects of the first darkness block they draw on each turn.
• Fox: When a player is collecting blocks, they are allowed to keep one additional block, even if it doesn't match the collecting symbol (except redstone).
• Panda: When a player rolls the "Fight" die while fighting a mob, they are protected from the first illager symbol they roll.
• Horse: When a player is exploring the world, they are allowed to add two world tiles to the world, placing the corresponding blocks inside the pouch.
• Llama: The player has one additional inventory slot that can be used for any material, including redstone.

End of the game[]

If the players complete three buildings before the illagers reach the village, the players win. However, if the illagers reach the village first, the players lose.

References[]